The present invention relates to a method for making a weather strip having a suede appearance and a suede feel.
Generally speaking, weather strips are mounted to body flanges of car doors. Weather strips for automobiles are mounted onto body flanges for waterproofing, soundproofing and dustproofing.
As shown in FIG. 1, the weather strip in common use comprises a generally U-shaped welt 7 having a core metal 6 in the interior, with a plurality of lips 1, 2, 3 and 4 projecting from the inner surfaces of the two leg portions, and a hollow sealant 8 attached to the outer surface of one leg portion of the welt 7.
Of course, since a variety of weather strips are mounted on different places of cars, they have different shapes. Weather strips are made of EPT (ethylene propylene terpolymer), CR (chloroprene rubber) or SBR (styrene butadiene rubber) as a main material. As occasion demands, weather strips are formed in solid type or sponge type.
Until recent years, most of the requirements of users for automobiles have centered upon performance as exemplified by fuel economy, speed and other mechanical aspects of automobiles. More recently, user's interest has focused on the design aspect of automobiles which appeals to the aesthetic sense of users. By design is meant both the outer and inner appearance. As mentioned above, weather strips are mounted on body flanges of cars for waterproofing, soundproofing and dustproofing. What is important is that part of the melt portion of weather strips which are mounted on body flanges of cars is visible inside. Generally speaking, a welt portion of a weather strip is formed of a black colored rubber in which a core metal is incorporated. Since the black color rubber part is visible inside the car, this somewhat impairs the interior appearance of cars. It was once attempted to make the welt of colored rubber but this idea was never put into commercial practice, since unlike plastics, rubber has no transparency and the colors it can take on are not only dull but unable to present intermediate shades. As a result, welts made of colored rubber are too monotonous in color to provide designs having aesthetic appeal. Under these circumstances, it is strongly desired to develop a weather strip that appeals more to the aesthetic sense of users and which hence gives an impression of "high quality".